Polycarbonate resins are generally produced using bisphenols as a monomer ingredient, and are being extensively utilized as so-called engineering plastics in the fields of electrical and electronic parts, automotive parts, medical parts, building materials, films, sheets, bottles, optical recording media, lenses, etc. so as to take advantage of the superiority thereof such as transparency, heat resistance, and mechanical strength.
However, the bisphenol compounds used for the conventional polycarbonate resins have aromatic ring structures and, hence, show enhanced ultraviolet absorption. Because of this, the polycarbonate resins have impaired light resistance and deteriorate in hue, transparency, or mechanical strength when used in places where the resins are exposed to ultraviolet rays or visible light over a long period. There have hence been limitations on outdoor use thereof and on use thereof in the vicinity of illuminators.
Techniques in which a benzophenone-based ultraviolet absorber, benzotriazole-based ultraviolet absorber, or benzoxazine-based ultraviolet absorber is added to a polycarbonate resin in order to overcome such problems are widely known (for example, non-patent document 1).
Meanwhile, when a polycarbonate resin which has monomer units of an aliphatic dihydroxy compound or alicyclic dihydroxy compound that has no aromatic ring structure in the molecular framework or monomer units of a cyclic dihydroxy compound that has ether bonds in the molecule, such as isosorbide, is used as the polycarbonate resin, it is theoretically expected that light resistance is improved.
In particular, polycarbonate resins produced using, as a monomer, isosorbide obtained from biomass resources have excellent heat resistance or mechanical strength, and many investigations thereon hence have come to be made in recent years (for example, patent documents 1 to 6).